Friday, January 20, 2012

Tonight, the triumphant return of the Greatest Android Podcast in the World

Android Central

We're back! We survived Las Vegas and CES and are now cowering the corner at the ridiculous number of Android devices we saw announced at the gianormous Consumer Electronics Show. We'll catch up on the best of what we saw, what's up next, and more of your e-mails and voicemails.

So join Phil and the gang -- and, of course, the chat room -- live tonight at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PST for the live broadcast. You should be there. You will be there. You must be there. After all, you are what makes it the Greatest Android Podcast in the World.

Not at a computer? Pick up the free UStream Viewer from the Android Market [link] and search for Android Central a little before the show (it won't appear until we go live). We'll see you there! AndroidCentral.com/live



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ylXTHjUZbOA/story01.htm

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Call Congress. (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/188010768?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Romney rolls out final SC primary ad (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is rolling out his closing appeal for votes in Saturday's South Carolina primary with an ad that takes swipes at President Barack Obama's economic policies and makes tough-to-keep promises.

The ad shows Romney giving his victory speech in New Hampshire's primary two weeks ago with his family in the background and mixes images from campaign stops on factory floors around the country.

"President Obama wants to fundamentally transform America," Romney says. "I stand ready to lead us down a different path. This president has enacted job-killing regulations; I'll eliminate them. He lost our triple-A credit rating; I'll restore it. He passed Obamacare; I'll repeal it."

Romney promises in the ad to cut, cap and balance the federal budget. "If you believe that the disappointments of the last few years are a detour, not a destiny," he says, "then I am asking for your vote."

The ad is a stark contrast to the harsh messages Romney and a political action committee supporting him have been using for weeks in South Carolina, a state whose Republican primary winner has gone on to win the nomination each time since 1980. South Carolina's primary is expected to thin the field before candidates rush to delegate-rich Florida, which holds its primary Jan. 31.

Television ads, mailers and phone messages have been rough. Mail pieces, for instance, have called challenger Rick Santorum a hypocrite for raising his pay while in the Senate and said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich launched an attack on America's free enterprise system by questioning Romney's business deals.

Romney's ad sets up several challenging policy initiatives for a Romney administration. Cutting the deficit, much less balancing the federal budget and capping spending, has been an elusive goal for a deeply partisan Congress. While Romney and other candidates complain about regulations killing jobs, businesses have cited the overall economy and slow consumer demand more frequently than regulations as the top problems. That suggests that rolling back regulations may not easily lead to job creation.

When Standard and Poor's downgraded the nation's AAA debt rating last year, it came after months of warnings about gridlock in Congress over dealing with the nation's financial problems. In a time of rising economic challenges, S&P said the U.S. had weakened "effectiveness, stability and predictability" in its policymaking and political institutions. It is far from clear when and how those shortcomings will be repaired.

The new federal health care law that Obama pushed through over GOP objections will have key elements tested in the Supreme Court this year. Even if those elements fail, facets of the health care law are popular and may never be repealed, including ending lifetime maximum policy limits and extending coverage under a parent's health insurance policy to children until they're 25.

___

Follow Jim Davenport on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jimdavenport_ap

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney_ad

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Suspect in CA killings returned from Iraq changed (AP)

YORBA LINDA, Calif. ? Just months after he was deployed to Iraq in 2008, a Marine veteran now suspected in the deaths of four homeless men in Southern California sent his family a short, upbeat video greeting.

The video, which was mostly in Spanish, showed Itzcoatl Ocampo wishing his father a happy Father's Day and reading an excerpt from Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham" to his then 10-year-old sister.

The former Marine's 17-year-old brother, Mixcoatl Ocampo, recalled how happy his family members were when they got the video in the mail that summer. They all gathered around the television in the living room to watch Itzcoatl Ocampo, who appeared in fatigues and talked against the backdrop of an American flag.

"We hadn't seen my brother since he got deployed," he said. "Dad saw the video, and when he first saw it he was thrilled."

According to friends and family, a much darker Ocampo returned home after he was discharged in 2010. His parents separated, and his father eventually became homeless.

Now, Ocampo's family is left trying to reconcile the smiling, slightly nervous-sounding soldier in the video greeting friends and family with the blankly staring man in the police mug shot accused of murder.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. Tuesday to announce charges against Itzcoatl Ocampo. The 23-year-old is expected to be charged with four counts of murder in the serial killings of four homeless men since late December.

He was arrested Jan. 13 after a locally known homeless man, John Berry, 64, was stabbed to death outside an Anaheim fast-food restaurant. Bystanders gave chase, and police made the arrest. Ocampo is being held in isolation at the central jail in Santa Ana for his own safety because of the notoriety of the case, according to Lt. Hal Brotheim, a spokesman with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Ocampo's father, 49-year-old Refugio Ocampo, said his son came back a changed man after serving in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as his family life frayed and he struggled to find his way as a civilian.

The father said he lost his job and home, and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping repair.

Just days before his elder son's arrest, Itzcoatl Ocampo came to visit his father, warning him of the danger of being on the streets and showing him a picture of one of the victims.

"He was very worried about me," Refugio Ocampo told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I told him, `Don't worry. I'm a survivor. Nothing will happen to me.'"

Itzcoatl Ocampo had been living with his mother, uncle, and younger brother and sister in a rented house on a horse ranch surrounded by the sprawling suburbs of Yorba Linda. At the humble home, his mother, who speaks little English, tearfully brought her son's Marine Corps dress uniform out of a closet and showed unit photos, citations and medals from his military service.

The son followed a friend into the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2006 instead of going to college as his father had hoped. Itzcoatl Ocampo was discharged in 2010 and returned home to find his family in disarray, his father said.

The same month, one of Itzcoatl Ocampo's friends, 22-year-old Cpl. Claudio Patino IV of Yorba Linda, was killed in combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

"Once he received the news, he was never the same," Mixcoatl Ocampo said. He said his brother visited Patino's grave twice a week.

Refugio and Mixcoatl both described a physical condition Itzcoatl suffered in which his hands shook and he suffered headaches. Medical treatments helped until he started drinking heavily, both said.

"He started drinking like crazy ? too much, way too much," the father said.

A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and the father both tried to push Itzcoatl to get treatment at a Veterans hospital, but he refused. Refugio Ocampo said he wanted his son to get psychological treatment as well.

"He started talking about stuff that didn't make any sense, that the end of the world was going to happen," he said.

While Refugio Ocampo lives away from his family, they remain close. He saw his children every day, and his wife brings food to the parking lot where the truck is located in the city of Fullerton.

Refugio Ocampo, who said he was educated as a lawyer in Mexico, immigrated with his wife and Itzcoatl in 1988 and became a U.S. citizen. He described building a successful life in which he became a warehouse manager and bought a home in Yorba Linda. In the past few years he lost his job, ran out of savings, lost his house and separated from his wife.

Standing near the truck where he sleeps, Refugio Ocampo fought back tears as he described the changes he saw in his son in the year since returning home.

"Before, he had the initiative to do things, the desire. But after the military, he didn't have any of that," he said.

Refugio Ocampo said investigators came to him Friday night and showed him surveillance photos from a crime scene, but he did not recognize his son as the person in the images.

"If he did it, it wasn't right, obviously. But there's something wrong with him," he said.

In addition to Berry and McGillivray, Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was killed near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, was found dead outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30.

Authorities have provided no information on evidence against Ocampo, or a possible motive. But Anaheim Police Chief John Welter has said investigators are confident they have the man responsible for the string of murders.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_re_us/us_homeless_homicides

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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Romney offers robust defense of Bain tenure (AP)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. ? Mitt Romney is offering a robust defense of his work at a venture capital fund.

The former Massachusetts governor was grilled about his work at Bain Capital in a nationally televised Republican presidential debate Monday.

Romney said Bain Capital did its best to grow companies and create jobs. He said venture capital is a major part of the economy, and he's proud to be part of it.

Romney said Bain's investments weren't always successful and some of its companies went bankrupt. But he said the firm had a record of building strong businesses.

Romney has come under attack by rivals including Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum for his work at Bain. Romney acknowledged President Barack Obama would probably criticize his record at Bain if Romney becomes the GOP nominee.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gop_debate_romney_bain

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Can Technology Transform Education Before It?s Too Late?

symbalooAs technology continues its march toward the Singularity, transforming the way we work, socialize and play at an increasing rate, there is one very important aspect of American society that lags behind: education. Many in Silicon Valley have strong opinions on how education should be improved, perhaps most notably Peter Thiel, who believes we are in a higher education bubble and should be encouraging kids to skip college and pursue entrepreneurship instead. I agree that Americans are placing too much emphasis on higher education, but I think the debate over Thiel?s statements misses a much deeper point.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/VZpUKdRUZtc/

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Minn. couple among those missing from cruise

The two Americans missing in an Italian cruise ship disaster were identified Monday as a retired couple from Minnesota who had been eagerly looking forward to their European vacation.

Family members issued a statement Monday confirming that Jerry Heil, 69, and his wife Barbara, 70, of White Bear Lake, a suburb of St. Paul, are the two Americans missing in the wreck of the Costa Concordia.

The ship capsized Friday night off Tuscany. Six people are confirmed dead and prosecutors are investigating the ship's captain for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck. The ship's owner says the captain, Francesco Schettino, caused the crash by deviating from the authorized course.

Rescue operations had been put on hold as rough seas buffeted the Costa Concordia, but resumed Monday.

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"We are waiting patiently for the rescuers to safely try to find our parents," the Heil family said in the statement. "Our prayers and thoughts are with our parents; those others that are still missing and their families; and the brave rescuers. We are working closely with the U.S. Embassy in Italy and are confident that everything is being done to find our parents."

Rescue divers resume search inside Italian cruise ship

The statement said the family would have no further comment until they have new information from authorities.

A family spokesman gave the statement to The Associated Press outside the home of Aaron Heil, a son of the couple, in Albertville, a Minneapolis suburb.

Several family members did not respond to phone calls from AP Sunday and Monday. Sarah Heil, a daughter of the couple, told WBBM radio in Chicago that her retired parents had been looking forward to their 16-day vacation.

"They raised four kids and sent them all to private school, elementary to college, so they never had any money," Sarah Heil said. "So when they retired, they went traveling. And this was to be a big deal ? a 16-day trip. They were really excited about it."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46013950/ns/us_news-life/

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Packers done in by mistakes, Giants in 37-20 loss (AP)

GREEN BAY, Wis. ? Booed off the field at halftime by their own fans, the collapse of the once-perfect Green Bay Packers was as swift as it was complete.

The defending Super Bowl champions looked anything but in Sunday's 37-20 playoff loss to New York, dropping passes, fumbling the ball and letting Eli Manning and the Giants rule every inch of Lambeau Field. Whether it was the bye last weekend or the shocking death of offensive coordinator Joe Philbin's 21-year-old son days earlier, the Packers were sloppy and sluggish.

And all the talk about Aaron Rodgers having one of the finest seasons in NFL history? Check with Manning on that. He's the one getting it done in the postseason.

The Giants now advance to next weekend's NFC championship against the San Francisco 49ers. The Packers, meanwhile, will be cleaning out their lockers for an offseason that came unexpectedly early. As the final seconds ticked down, chants of "Let's Go, Giants!" echoed throughout Lambeau.

The Packers have no one to blame but themselves for the dismal finish to a season that started with such promise, when they stretched the winning streak they started last year to 19 games. Their defense, maligned all season for its penchant for giving up big plays, was even worse than advertised. It was powerless to stop Manning, who threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns and coolly moved the Giants down the field drive after drive. Hakeem Nicks made the secondary look downright silly with 165 yards receiving and two touchdowns, one of which he plucked out of the air above a scrum of Green Bay defenders just before halftime, prompting Packer fans to boo as their team trotted of the field.

The Green Bay offense has usually been more than enough to make up for the defense's shortcomings, scoring a franchise-record 560 points during the regular season. And offensive players had vowed to win the game for Philbin, who was away from the team all week to mourn the death of his son Michael. Michael Philbin's body was recovered from an icy river in Oshkosh on Monday; a preliminary autopsy found that he drowned.

But the offense wasn't any better than the defense. The Packers lost three fumbles and the receivers may as well have had rubber on the tips of their fingers for as many balls as they dropped. Despite having their regular starting offensive line in place for the one of the few times this season, Rodgers was sacked four times.

Rodgers was off his game, too. He overthrew an open Greg Jennings in the end zone on the very first drive, and lost his first fumble in a year when he was sacked in the third quarter by Osi Umenyiora. He did put together a nice drive on Green Bay's next possession, connecting with Donald Driver on a 13-yard catch and James Starks on a 12-yard reception as the Packers marched to the Giants 17. But he failed to connect with Jennings in the end zone again, and the Packers had to settle for a field goal when they really needed a touchdown.

Rodgers finished 26-of-46 for 264 yards, and his quarterback rating of 78.5 was well off his 122.5 for the regular-season, an NFL record.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_sp_fo_ga_su/fbn_packers

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Monday, January 16, 2012

Hulu challenges cable with first original drama (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Hulu, the popular online video service, has taken another step to becoming a full-fledged alternative to cable television by commissioning its first scripted original TV show to go live next month.

The new political documentary-style drama "Battleground" is set in Wisconsin and executive-produced by JD Walsh, Hagai Shaham and Marc Webb. It follows Hulu's first original documentary series Morgan Spurlock's "A Day In The Life."

The majority of Hulu's programming to date has been licensed from its parent companies, News Corp, Walt Disney Co and Comcast Corp's NBC Universal, as well as other program makers.

Andy Forsell, Hulu's programming executive, said Spurlock's show had been a success based on data it collected on its audience, but he declined to reveal the program's view counts.

Spurlock's series is being followed up with a second season and being joined by another six-episode documentary series called "Up to Speed" by Richard Linklater, who is perhaps best known for movies "Dazed and Confused" and "School of Rock".

The challenge for Hulu is to ensure it can generate a return on investment in expensive content like scripted drama, which is typically more costly than producing a documentary or reality show.

"We can make the economics work, I've got a budget for originals but there's not the same pressure as a traditional network since we don't have worry about filling airtime," Forsell said.

The original shows will be available on Hulu's free Web service rather than just to its paying Hulu Plus subscribers as the start-up increases its user base and builds its reputation for original programming. But Hulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar said the dual revenue model of advertising and subscription fees is key to Hulu's future.

"At scale, our model allows us to profitably pay content owners approximately 50 percent more in content licensing fees per subscriber when compared to other similarly priced online subscription services," Kilar said in a blog post on Friday.

PAYING SUBSCRIBERS

Hulu said on Friday it had more than 1.5 million paying subscribers at the end of 2011, and revenue grew 60 percent to $420 million.

Early last year, Kilar forecast that Hulu would generate around $500 million in revenue during 2011. The revenue miss was indirectly blamed on a "soft advertising market" in the second half of the year.

Like other Web companies trying to bring more TV shows and movies online, Hulu is in a race with rival Netflix Inc to buy and develop more content to add to and maintain its subscriber base.

Kilar said the company will spend around $500 million on content in 2012 covering new content acquisition, re-licensing existing content on the service and originals. It is an increase from the $375 million it said it spent last year.

Netflix, which has some 23 million U.S. subscribers, said last March it had secured exclusive rights to the 26-episode television series "House of Cards" a political thriller starring Kevin Spacey and directed by David Fincher.

It was reported last year that Netflix would spend around $100 million to produce the show.

Services like Netflix are increasingly being recognized as direct competition or replacements for premium cable channels such as Time Warner Inc's HBO and CBS Corp's Showtime.

(Reporting By Yinka Adegoke, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/tv_nm/us_hulu

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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Boston lawsuit claims DES-breast cancer link (AP)

BOSTON ? Arline MacCormack first heard about DES from her mother when she was 17. Three decades later, MacCormack believes that the drug her mother took to prevent miscarriages caused her to develop breast cancer at age 44.

MacCormack, of Newton, is one of 53 women from around the country who are suing drug companies who made and promoted DES for millions of pregnant women from about 1938 to the early 1970s. In 1971, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told doctors to stop prescribing DES for their pregnant patients after a study found that taking DES during pregnancy appeared to increase the risk of developing a rare vaginal cancer years later for DES daughters in their teens and 20s.

DES, or diethylstilbestrol (dahy-eth-uhl-stil-bes'-trawl), is a synthetic estrogen that was prescribed to millions of women in the United States, Europe and other countries to prevent miscarriages, premature birth and other problems.

The case in Boston is being closely watched by DES daughters around the country. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed since the 1970s alleging links between DES and cervical and vaginal cancer, as well as infertility problems. Many of those cases were settled before trial. The Boston case is believed to be the first major litigation alleging a link between DES and breast cancer in DES daughters over the age of 40.

MacCormack, now 50, said she was stunned when she was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago after having mammograms every six months since she turned 40 because she had had several benign cysts removed over the years.

"The characteristics of my cancer were for women over 60 typically. It wasn't the type of cancer a 40-year-old or a 44-year-old woman gets," said MacCormack.

"When I read the research that's been done, I found I had more chance of getting it because my mom took DES," she said.

The women's lawyers say their case is supported by a recent study that suggests that breast cancer risk is nearly doubled in DES daughters over the age of 40. The average woman has about a 1 in 50 chance of developing breast cancer by 55. The study, led by Dr. Robert Hoover, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute, found that the chance for DES daughters is 1 in 25.

The lawsuit alleges that 14 drug manufacturers ? including Eli Lilly and Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co._ withheld from doctors and the FDA reports that showed DES did not prevent miscarriages and raised serious questions about the safety of the drug.

"This drug, DES, was the biggest human experiment of quackery in the history of medicine," said Aaron Levine, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who filed the Boston lawsuit and represents another 18 DES daughters making similar claims.

Representatives and lawyers for Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In court and in public documents, the companies argue that a firm link between DES and breast cancer has not been established and that the DES daughters who are suing them have not shown that DES caused their cancers.

"We believe these claims are without merit and are prepared to defend against them vigorously," Eli Lilly said in its most recent annual report.

The drug companies also argue that the medical community does not generally accept that fetal exposure to DES causes breast cancer.

"There is not a single published study, a respected medical treatise or textbook, nor a pronouncement by one of the prominent societies dedicated to the discovery of cancer causes which claims a causal link between prenatal DES exposure and breast cancer has been proven," Bristol-Myers Squibb argued in a motion to exclude the testimony of the plaintiffs' experts.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler has heard testimony from a dozen experts on both sides during a hearing on the drug companies' motions, which argue that the opinions of the women's experts are not based on reliable science.

If Bowler grants the drug companies' motion, the case will not go to trial, Levine said. But if she allows the plaintiffs' experts to testify, the case can proceed to trial.

Final arguments on the motion are scheduled for Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court.

DES was prescribed at a time when medical advice was rarely questioned and drugs were not subjected to the kinds of rigorous clinical trials they are today, said Dr. Michael Grodin, a professor of medical ethics at Boston University's School of Public Health. Grodin said proving a link between DES and the plaintiffs' breast cancer could be difficult.

"There's an issue of causation, but even if it did cause the cancer, that doesn't mean there was negligence," Grodin said.

"The question of negligence is what did they know, when did they know it and what did they do about it? Those are all in contention," he said.

Jackie White, 48, of Centerburg, Ohio, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 at age 47. Tests showed 20 tumors in one breast and two pre-cancerous lumps in the other. The cancer had also spread to her lymph nodes. She had a double mastectomy, and did six months of chemotherapy and seven weeks of radiation.

White said her mother, a nurse, told her at age 13 that she had taken DES while pregnant, prompting White to get regular gynecological exams and mammograms over the years. She said she has no family history of breast cancer.

White said it wasn't until she saw high estrogen levels in her pathology reports that she began to wonder whether DES could have caused her cancer.

"I exercise daily. I ate healthy, low-fat, did all of the maintenance screenings that a person needs ? self-exams, mammograms, OB-GYN appointments ? eliminated the exposure to birth control or things like that, just like doctors recommended," she said.

"I'm not any of the things that are the highest-known reasons for risk factors for breast cancer."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120108/ap_on_he_me/us_pregnancy_drug_lawsuit

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Future brighter for Thomas Cook as debt prices rise

Debt prices in beleaguered tour operator Thomas Cook have started to increase following a series of changes in recent weeks, including the resignations of three non-executive directors.

In mid-December, when the future of Thomas Cook seemed bleak, investors could snap up debt for around 37p in the pound. This is now roughly 48p, still a dire number, but enough of an improvement to suggest that some faith has been restored in the group's potential fortunes.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3510/s/1b9ca06c/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cbusiness0Cnews0Cfuture0Ebrighter0Efor0Ethomas0Ecook0Eas0Edebt0Eprices0Erise0E62864920Bhtml/story01.htm

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Monday, January 9, 2012

Ford to open Silicon Valley lab

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - Ford Motor Co. is the latest automaker to open a research lab in Silicon Valley, where it hopes to scout out new technology and keep ahead of trends.

The company said Friday that it plans to open the lab near Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in the first few months of this year. It will employ around 15 people, including some recruited locally and others who will rotate in from Ford's headquarters in Dearborn.

Ford's Chief Technical Officer Paul Mascarenas said the company decided about a year ago that it needed a bigger presence in Silicon Valley.

"This is a very natural extension into one of the most innovative communities in the world," he said.

He said the lab will work on ways to better integrate phones and other personal devices into cars, as well as safety systems that alert drivers when they're approaching another car.

The lab will also solicit and test applications from independent programmers. One app Ford is currently studying can find an open parking space and reserve it. Another would improve weather reporting by transmitting signals when a car's rain-sensing wipers are triggered.

Mascarenas said the lab will also study larger issues, including population growth in developing countries like China and India, and how best to handle traffic in those countries.

The lab will work with Ford headquarters as well as its design studio in Southern California and its office at Microsoft Corp. in Washington. Microsoft and Ford jointly developed Ford's Sync voice-activated entertainment system and My Ford Touch touch-screen dashboard.

But Mascarenas said it's important that the lab be in Silicon Valley - not Dearborn - so employees feel free to experiment.

Ford joins several other automakers that have similar offices in Silicon Valley, including General Motors Co., BMW AG and the Renault-Nissan alliance.

K. Venkatesh Prasad, a senior technical leader at Ford who will commute between Dearborn and the new office, said Ford considered opening a Silicon Valley office in the past but the technology wasn't ready. Now, he said, the Sync platform makes it easier and faster to reprogram the car and update it with new applications. Ford introduced Sync four years ago.

"The car is finally a platform," Prasad said.

Source: http://www.kval.com/news/business/Ford-to-open-Silicon-Valley-lab-136813948.html

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Apple Accessories Sale: iPod Touch, iPad2, iPad, iPhone 4/4S & MORE

Couponers United

by Mary on January 6, 2012

Welcome to Couponers United! If you're new here and don't want to miss a post, you may want to subscribe to my Daily Email Newsletter or my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Click on the category of your choice to see the current deals:

Apple iPhone 4 / 4S accessories

?iPad2 accessories?

iPod Touch accessories?

iPad accessories

iPhone 3 accessories?

The prices are great! ?Shipping is FREE! ?Please note that the shipping does take 3-4wks from Focal Price. ?

Source: http://www.couponersunited.com/2012/01/apple-accessories-sale-ipod-touch-ipad2-ipad-iphone-44s-more.html

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Friday, January 6, 2012

Motorcyclist found unconscious at Dakar Rally

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, French biker Sebastien Coue waves from his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, Argentina after he was found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christian Heit)

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, French biker Sebastien Coue waves from his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, Argentina after he was found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christian Heit)

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, French biker Sebastien Coue rides his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, Argentina after he was found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christian Heit)

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, France's biker Sebastien Coue races his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, after being found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

(AP) ? A French motorcyclist was in critical condition Tuesday after being found unconscious in remote sand dunes during the Dakar Rally. The rally, one of the most dangerous in motor sports, already has left three dead.

Sebastien Coue apparently crashed during the second stage in western Argentina and was exposed to temperatures above 104 degrees, Teodoro J. Schestakow Hospital said. His body temperature also exceeded 104.

"He entered in critical condition," hospital director Armando Dauverne said. "We don't know how long he was exposed to the sun. Right now he is in intensive care."

Joan Roma of Spain won the third stage while teammate Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland led overall. Frenchman Cyril Despres captured the motorcycle stage to take first place overall after a navigational error by defending champion Marc Coma of Spain.

On Sunday, Argentine bike rider Jorge Martinez Boero died in a crash. On the same day, the pilot of an ultralight plane and his son died when the aircraft went down while following the race.

This is the fourth consecutive year the race is being held in South America. It had been run in Europe and Africa until the 2008 race was canceled because of fears of terrorism. The rally moved to South America the next year.

The past three years the race consisted of loop courses from Buenos Aires to Chile and back to Buenos Aires. This year the race began in Argentina, passes through Chile and finishes in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 15.

Roma won the 130-mile, high-altitude special from San Rafael to San Juan in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 51 seconds. He was 1:09 ahead of Holowczyc and 1:29 in front of last year's winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Hummer.

For Roma, it was only his third stage win in a car but his 15th in race history.

Holowczyc led the overall, 54 seconds ahead of American Robby Gordon. Giniel Devilliers of South Africa, the 2009 champion, was 1:40 behind in third.

In bikes, Despres took the 170-mile special stage in 3:48:38. He finished 8:37 in front of Frans Verhoeven of the Netherlands, and 8:39 faster than Portuguese Paulo Goncalves.

More important, Despres was 10:12 ahead of his biggest rival, KTM teammate Coma. Coma, the leader after the second stage, took a wrong turn, lost 13 minutes and finished in seventh place.

"Yesterday was my day, but today definitely wasn't," Coma said.

Despres said: "It's good for my position, even if I'm never happy about other people's setbacks."

In the overall standings in bikes, France's David Casteu was third, 17:16 behind.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-03-CAR-Dakar-Rally/id-68607049b8514feab6e26f5e8289000a

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Zimbabwe police stop Anglican prayer retreat (AP)

HARARE, Zimbabwe ? Zimbabwean police stopped a retreat of 80 clergy over claims that their prayer gathering was not given police clearance under sweeping security laws, the country's mainstream Anglican church said Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's Anglican church has been split by a breakaway group led by a bishop close to the president, who has seized church properties without police intervention. The bishop has been excommunicated by world Anglicans.

The mainstream Diocese of Harare said in a statement that police ordered them to disperse Monday from the Peterhouse private school but they refused, denying any wrongdoing and insisting police remove them by force.

The mainstream Diocese of Harare said in a statement that police loyal to Bishop Nolbert Kunonga returned Tuesday to the school 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of the capital and were in a standoff, demanding the clerics, including two bishops, leave the school grounds.

"We deplore this action and call upon higher authorities to intervene. So much for freedom of religion," the head of the mainstream Anglicans, Bishop Chad Gandiya, said in the statement.

The boarding school is not linked to the church but allows Christian and other groups to use its facilities during vacations.

The police action marked the beginning of "another year of persecution at the hands of a hostile police force" and was a clear indication of the allegiance of police to Kunonga, the statement said.

The 80 clerics headed by Gandiya and Bishop Julius Makoni, the bishop of the eastern city of Mutare, represented the church in Harare and eastern Zimbabwe for their annual New Year's retreat.

Kunonga, the breakaway bishop, claims to lead Zimbabwe's Anglicans and has already refused to hand back the Harare Cathedral, offices, buildings, church bank accounts and vehicles he seized with the protection of police loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

In 2007, Kunonga was excommunicated by the main Anglican Province of Central Africa and the worldwide head of the church after he was accused of inciting violence in sermons supporting Mugabe's party.

The schism in the Zimbabwe's Anglican community has left many mainstream Anglicans without places of worship and they've experienced intimidation and threats of violence.

On a visit to Zimbabwe in October, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, met with Mugabe and handed over a dossier detailing incidents of intimidation and violence that included death threats to Anglican bishops and police raids on churches and mission schools to drive out worshippers, clerics and staff loyal to Gandiya.

Williams told reporters after meeting with Mugabe that the president told him he was unfamiliar with the scale of intimidation the mainstream Anglicans in Zimbabwe were facing.

Kunonga, who has denied the allegations against him, won a Supreme Court ruling in August allowing him to retain control of Anglican properties until an appeal by the mainstream Anglican church is resolved.

That ruling was made by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, who like Kunonga is an open supporter of Mugabe's party.

Kunonga insists he broke away from the mainstream Anglicans after the church in Britain recognized gay marriage and the rights of same sex partners. Mugabe is a bitter critic of homosexuality.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120103/ap_on_re_af/af_zimbabwe_anglicans

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Thursday, January 5, 2012

NASA probes reach moon for gravity-mapping mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jan 5, 2012 8:25am EST

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two robotic probes began orbiting the moon Sunday in preparation for an unprecedented mission to map the lunar interior.

NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft wrapped up 2.6-million-mile journey to put themselves into lunar orbit on Saturday and Sunday.

Over the next two months, the probes' 34-mile-high orbits will be adjusted to get them into optimal position to measure the pushes and pulls of the moon's gravity, data that scientists can use to model what is inside the moon.

"Pop the bubbly and toast the moon," NASA wrote on its Twitter feed after the first GRAIL spacecraft finished a 40-minute braking maneuver at 5 p.m. EST (22:00 GMT) on New Year's Eve.

The second spacecraft followed suit 25 hours later. Both are needed for the intricate gravity-mapping mission scheduled to begin in March.

"Everything is looking good," NASA wrote as ground control teams received radio signals Sunday confirming the second spacecraft's arrival. "It's going to be a great 2012."

Over the next two months, the probes' orbits will be tweaked until they are flying in formation low over the lunar poles. As the spacecraft fly over denser regions of the moon, they will speed up slightly in response to the extra gravitational tugs.

By constantly measuring changes in the distance between the two craft, scientists can create a gravity map of the moon. The changes in speed will be as subtle as a fraction of a micron per second. A micron is about the width of a red blood cell.

The data will be used to model the moon's interior, a key piece of information still missing despite more than 100 previous missions to the moon, including six human expeditions during NASA's 1969-1972 Apollo program.

Scientists believe the moon formed when an object about the size of Mars smashed into Earth shortly after the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. But questions about how the moon evolved remain.

One longstanding question is why the far side of the moon is so different from the side that permanently faces Earth. The near side is filled with large, dark plains formed by ancient volcanic eruptions, while the far side is virtually all highlands.

The mission is scheduled to last 82 days, but if the solar-powered probes, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, survive beyond the next lunar eclipse in June, the $496 million mission could be extended for a more detailed mapping survey.

(Editing by Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/o9miNZfChsM/us-space-moon-idUSTRE7BT0WU20120105

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Graphical communication for legal scholarship ? Statistical Modeling ...

The legal academy, which is making strides toward sensible integration of a variety of empirical methods into its scholarship, is horribly ignorant of the utility of graphic reporting of data, a likely influence of the formative influence that econometric methods has exerted on expectations and habits of mind among legal scholars. Lee Epstein has written a pair of wonderful articles on graphic reporting ?

1. Epstein, L., Martin, A. & Boyd, C. On the Effective Communication of the Results of Empirical Studies, Part II. Vand. L. Rev. 60, 798-846 (2007).
2. Epstein, L., Martin, A. & Schneider, M. On the Effective Communication of the Results of Empirical Studies, Part I. Vand. L. Rev. 59, 1811-1871 (2007).

? but her efforts haven?t gotten the attention they deserve, and reinforcement, particularly at a venue like CELS is very important.

But the main issue there is just that graphic reporting dominates tables as a means of communicating information? something you touched on at the end (I am constantly referring people, incluiding authors whose papers I?m reviewing for peer-reviewed journals in law & in risk/science communication to Gelman, A., Pasarica, C. & Dodhia, R. Let?s Practice What We Preach: Turning Tables into Graphs. Am. Stat. 56, 121-130 (2002); also King, G., Tomz, M. & Wittenberg., J. Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation. Am. J. Pol. Sci 44, 347-361 (2000)).

The more difficult points involve selection and integration of graphic reporting methods given the array of audiences legal scholars are likely to be targeting. These include (A) other scholars doing empirical legal studies, (B) other scholars who don?t use empirical methods and (C) lawmakers, judges, and lawyers. You sensibly said to me that the style of graphic reporting one uses depends on one?s purposes. For purposes of communicating with *any* of these constinuencies, the info-whatever USA Today stuff is not appropriate. But I don?t think there?s any *one* graphic reporting method that will always suit the purpose of communicating with all three of these groups of readers, and we often *are* writing for all three at once.

The nub of the problem, as I see it, is that the sort of graphic reporting you are extremely good at is aimed at communicating with (A). There is a lot that empirical legal scholars, particularly those who have been have lived through decades of the industrial-grade econometrics, need to learn in order to communicate with each other more effectively (in part b/c they don?t necessarily know *what* they *should* be communicating, or essentially what the most relevant statistical information is to make sense of their study results; one of the beautiful things about learning the art of graphic reporting is that it forces researchers to be reflective about data reporting and not approach statistical analysis in a mindless, robotic fashion).

But the graphic reporting that is ideal for them is often *not* the best for readers in the (B) & (C) classes. This is in part b/c the best graphics for (A) communicate certain concepts that (B) & (C) likely don?t understand. But it is also true b/c those readers, particularly ones in (C), are likely to be modest in numeracy, and likely to fail to understand or comprehend the significance of information that is reported in the graphics that are ideal for (A). Your excellent recent analysis of public opinion on capital punishment is a good example; the excellent Figures in that paper, some of which featured today in your presentation, would bounce ineffectually off the minds of essentially all (C) & of too many (B)?s as well (& not b/c they are dumb; they are smart, & motivated, which is why USA Today ?get there attention? is not relevant at all).

I know you get this issue? you negotiated it very well, e.g., in Red State, Blue State. I think it would have been great for CELS attendees to have the chance to explore these issues w/ you in a concrete way, one focused on examples you have deal with & that we have faced. Also, I?d love to know what you make of the sort of research on communicating statistical information that Spiegelhalter, D., Pearson, M. & Short, I. Visualizing Uncertainty About the Future. Science 333, 1393-1400 (2011), features (I referred to this in our brief exchange).

I don?t have any great reply here; really, any good answer would require experience in communication that I don?t have. But I do think that well-chosen dot plots and line plot can do well.

I think that what really might work are some examples of the graph and the explanation alongside. You don?t have to be Chris Ware to know that a picture plus 1000 words is better than two pictures or 2000 words. But all too often we seem to demand of our graphs that they stand on their own.

Source: http://andrewgelman.com/2012/01/graphical-communication-for-legal-scholarship/

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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Gator Bait: Buckeyes Fall To Florida 24-17

Quarterback John Brantley of the Florida Gators celebrates a first half touchdown during the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl against the Ohio State Buckeyes / (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Quarterback John Brantley of the Florida Gators celebrates a first half touchdown during the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl against the Ohio State Buckeyes / (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

JACKSONVILLE (AP) ? Florida?s special teams came up big in the Gator Bowl, scoring twice as the Gators beat Ohio State 24-17 on Monday in a game between Urban Meyer?s old team and his future one.

Andre Debose returned a kickoff 99 yards ? the longest scoring play in bowl history ? and Chris Rainey blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown.

The speedsters helped the Gators (7-6) avoid their first losing season since 1979 and pick up some much-needed momentum after losing six of their previous eight games.

Ohio State (6-7) finished below .500 for the first time since 1986. The Buckeyes can take solace in knowing that Meyer, who officially takes over at Ohio State this week, will make it a priority to improve special teams. Meyer did that in his six seasons in Gainesville, and Rainey and Debose were two of his most prized recruits.

Ohio State fell to 0-10 in bowl games against teams from the Southeastern Conference. Yes, the Buckeyes beat Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl last year. But that victory was vacated.

The latest loss had everything to do with Florida?s speed.

The Gators dominated the defensive line of scrimmage. They had a season-high six sacks, harassing Braxton Miller on nearly every passing play. Jaye Howard and Sharrif Floyd were disruptive all afternoon.

Florida had similar success the last time it played Ohio State. The Gators were dominant on defense in a 41-14 win in the 2007 Bowl Championship Series national title game in Glendale, Ariz.

Debose and Rainey proved to be the difference in the much-hyped rematch that centered around Meyer.

Just after Ohio State tied the game at 7 on Miller?s 5-yard pass to DeVier Posey in the second quarter, Debose took the kickoff, made one cut to the outside and went untouched for his third career special teams touchdown. The Buckeyes never got close enough to even swipe at him, let alone make the tackle.

Florida was up 14-10 at halftime and essentially put the game out of reach on the opening possession of the third.

Rainey came off the left end and blocked Ben Buchanan?s punt. Seldom-used linebacker Graham Stewart scooped it up at the 14-yard line and scored the first touchdown of his career.

It was Rainey?s sixth blocked punt of his career, breaking the school and SEC record.

Rainey also ran for 71 yards on a warm and sunny day in Jacksonville. John Brantley completed 16 of 22 passes for 132 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. He had a 17-yard strike to Deonte Thompson in the first.

Jeff Demps added 31 yards on the ground.

Ohio State wasn?t nearly as effective.

Miller completed 18 of 23 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 15 times for 20 yards. He completed an 11-yard TD pass to Jordan Hall with 57 seconds remaining. The Buckeyes failed to recover an onside kick, and Florida ran out the clock for its sixth bowl victory in the last seven years.

Ohio State?s Dan Herron ran for 82 yards, but also had a fumble. Posey finished with five catches for 37 yards.

Miller, a freshman, gives Meyer an experienced and improving quarterback for next season. The Buckeyes won?t be bowl eligible, though.

The NCAA hit Ohio State with a one-year bowl ban and additional penalties last month for violations stemming from players who exchanged jerseys, rings and other Buckeyes memorabilia for cash and tattoos. The violations cost coach Jim Tressel his job, and the Buckeyes turned things over to interim coach Luke Fickell.

The Buckeyes lost four in a row to end the season.

(? Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Source: http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/01/02/gator-bait-buckeyes-fall-to-florida-24-17/

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Action Game Amberground for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

There are lots of gems under the ground. Could you help the cute girl get these treasures? Let?s go on checking the action game Amberground.

Action Game Amberground for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Amberground is an addictive action game developed by Trionit, and designed for both iPhone and iPad. The universal game features old-school, pixelated game graphics, matching music with the game environment and virtual gamepad controls. All you need to do is to collect all the gems and successfully withdraw from the exit, moreover, you also have to watch out the underground monsters, killing them will let you get more gems. The action game comes with 100 action-packed levels divided into 5 distinct locations. Apart from that, the integrated Game Center allows you to compete with others via achievements and leaderboard.

Action Game Amberground for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
Action Game Amberground for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
Action Game Amberground for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Amberground with a size of 17.7 MB is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad running iOS 4.0 or later. The universal game is free for a limited time at present. If you?re interested, jump to App Store for more details.

Source: http://iappsin.com/action-game-amberground-for-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch.htm

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Santorum, Romney, Paul leading caucus vote

(AP) ? Texas congressman Ron Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum are waging a tense, three-way struggle for supremacy in Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses.

Returns from nearly one-third of the state's 1,774 precincts show the three men bunched together, separated by only a few dozen votes and jockeying back and forth for first place. It's a fitting conclusion for a race that's been as jumbled as any since Iowa gained the lead-off position in presidential campaigns four decades ago.

The winner is in line for bragging rights ? and perhaps much more ? as the GOP nominating campaign makes the turn to primaries in New Hampshire on Jan. 10, then South Carolina and Florida before the end of January.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-03-Iowa%20Caucuses-Mid-Results/id-a234f562b1864f65b106510c85843519

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Monday, January 2, 2012

Featured Advertiser (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/181877186?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Aggiornamento della nostra App per Windows Phone

Ecco il primo aggiornamento della nostra App per Windows Phone
v.1.1
- Corretta anomalia nella visualizzazione del testo durante l?inserimento di un commento
- Separati campi nome ed email durante l?inserimento di un commento
- Nei commenti, l?email non ? pi? visibile in chiaro.

Link al Web Marketplace

Grazie a Vito e, come al solito, attendiamo i vostri feedback

About the author

Loris alias batista70 Loris alias batista70 Blogger con la passione per tutto quello che telefona e per le video recensioni, la sua casa si trasforma in uno zoo pieno di scimmie all'uscita di ogni nuovo cellulare.

Source: http://www.batista70phone.com/2012/01/aggiornamento-della-nostra-app-per-windows-phone/

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Sunday, January 1, 2012

SwitcherLyrics adds music lyrics to the Fast App Switcher [Jailbreak]

SwitcherLyrics is a new jailbreak mod in Cydia that offers the ability to view lyrics for any most tracks stored in your iPod music library.
With SwitchLyrics
...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/gTUu2Var2lE/story01.htm

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US wants 2012 talks for Taliban political office

(AP) ? The Obama administration hopes to restore momentum in the spring to U.S. talks with the Taliban insurgency that had reached a critical point before falling apart this month because of objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

One goal of renewed talks with the insurgents would be to identify cease-fire zones that could be used as a steppingstone toward a full peace agreement that stops most fighting, a senior administration official told The Associated Press ? a goal that remains far out of reach.

U.S. officials from the State Department and White House plan to continue a series of secret meetings with Taliban representatives in Europe and the Persian Gulf region next year, assuming a small group of Taliban emissaries the U.S. considers legitimate remains willing, two officials said.

The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive and precarious U.S. outreach to the Taliban leadership.

The U.S. outreach to the Taliban this year had fits and starts but had progressed to the point that there was active discussion of two steps the Taliban seeks as precursors to negotiations, the senior U.S. official said. Talks are on an unofficial hiatus at Karzai's request, U.S. and other officials said.

Those trust-building measures were a Taliban headquarters office and the release from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of about five Afghan prisoners considered affiliated with the Taliban. Those steps were to be matched by assurances from at least part of the Taliban leadership that the insurgents would cut ties with al-Qaida, accept the elected civilian government of Afghanistan and bargain in good faith.

The Taliban office idea is seen the most likely to regain traction next year, but it's unclear when it might open. A political office in a neutral third country would be authorized to conduct talks on a peaceful end to the 10-year war.

Karzai remains opposed to the more difficult prisoner transfer plan, which is further complicated by new congressional restrictions on any prisoner transfers.

The U.S. tentatively had agreed to transfer a handful of Afghan prisoners to house arrest in a third country, probably Qatar, before the deal unraveled, U.S. officials said.

The Associated Press has learned the identity of some of the proposed transferees, including Khairullah Khairkhwa, former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mullah Mohammed Fazl, a former top Taliban military commander believed responsible for sectarian killings before the U.S. invasion that toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001.

Karzai's own advisers seeking peace with the Taliban had named those men among several Afghan Taliban prisoners it wanted released from Guantanamo as a goodwill gesture, but Karzai wants the prisoners to come to Afghanistan, not a third country, a senior Afghan official in the region said.

Sending Afghans to an Arab country could offend Afghans' sense of sovereignty and suggest that the U.S. does not think Afghanistan is fit to hold or try the men, officials said.

"As soon as I was released, I met President Karzai and he promised that he would not allow Afghan prisoners to be sent anywhere except Afghanistan," said Haji Ruhollah, an Afghan who was released from Guantanamo in 2010. "They are all Afghans and they should be brought and kept in Afghanistan."

U.S. and Afghan officials also pointed to Karzai's longstanding unease with what he sees as a rush by the U.S. to broker deals ahead of the planned exit of U.S. combat forces by 2015. Karzai has political problems at home, including newly resurgent militias, and the assassination of his chief peace negotiator in September clouds his own outreach to the Taliban.

The U.S. once swore off direct talks with the Taliban until the insurgents essentially were beaten but shifted position as the war dragged on in near stalemate. Participants said they still consider a peace deal a long shot, and the insurgent leadership has shown no sign it wants to stop fighting a guerrilla war it thinks it can sustain until after most foreign forces depart.

The Associated Press is not identifying U.S. officials involved in the direct talks in consideration of their safety. One member of the Taliban negotiating team has been publicly identified as Tayyab Aga, an emissary of Pakistan-based Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Other participants include a former Taliban ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a former Taliban deputy health minister, the senior Afghan official said.

The U.S. goal is to midwife talks between the insurgents and the U.S.-backed Afghan government led by Karzai, who frequently has felt sidelined by the U.S. as it pursues talks with his enemies. He bills peace talks as an Afghan-led process, which the U.S. insists is also its goal. The U.S. outreach is meant to jump-start negotiations, U.S. officials have said, but they acknowledge that their efforts can feed the perception that Karzai is not fully in charge.

Although the Karzai government shares the goal of outreach and eventual political reconciliation with the Afghan Taliban movement, he resents the insurgents' demand only to speak with what they call American occupiers. He has argued that the U.S. undercuts his leverage, and his inner circle derailed initial U.S.-Taliban talks earlier this year, several officials previously told the AP.

Karzai has supported the general idea of an office, preferably in Afghanistan, but he balked when the plan for Qatar appeared to have been settled without him, officials said. Earlier this month, Kabul recalled its ambassador to Qatar for consultations over reports that the Taliban was planning to open an office there.

An Afghan official, who could not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said at the time that the ambassador was recalled because Qatar had not consulted with them throughout the process. The Afghan government supports the establishment of an office for the Taliban only as a facilitative step in the peace process, not as any kind of a concession to them, the official said.

On Tuesday, Karzai backed down. He said his government would accept the Qatar office to hold peace talks, although Saudi Arabia or Turkey would be preferable venues.

If the United States insists that the insurgents establish a liaison office in Qatar, "we are agreed," Karzai said in a presidential statement.

Karzai's preference for Saudi Arabia or Turkey over Qatar is based on his belief that the Saudis can be trusted and their status as an established Muslim power broker, the senior Afghan official said. Turkey is a neighbor of Afghanistan and already involved in international efforts to stabilize the country.

Karzai and his inner circle think the tiny gas-rich Arab state of Qatar is not a strong Muslim country and is not particularly close to Afghanistan, the official said.

___

Gannon reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Patrick Quinn in Kabul contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-30-US-Afghanistan-Taliban/id-36da9f35ab8242f898427808f3203418

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